Leonine Ponderances

Feels like the Gestapo were outside my door last night…

But what makes it even weirder, just before 9pm last night I had the most bizarre and unfortunately nasty encounter with an employee of the Transit Authority.

I was “watering the dogs” in which I walk them to the little fenced off area next between the cul de sac and the freeway sound wall. I turned around to close the gate behind me and I saw a portly late 40s looking dude walking towards the cars/dumpster which you have to weed through to get to the gate.

It wasn’t til he made the turn to angle directly at the gate that I realize he was actually coming to talk to me. I’m on edge cause well I don’t know this guy and while I wasn’t scared, I’m not crazy about being approached by strangers like that.

Especially when the first things I can make out from them trying to talk to me are “transit authority… this gate is SUPPOSED TO BE LOCKED!! (with unspoken implication that I was the one who unlocked it)… not a joke… by day”.

Translation: He works for the Transit Authority during the day and for some reason I never heard (and I’m not sure he ever gave) he was “policing the area”.

When he was emphatic about the gate being locked, I was giving him dumb looks cause “dude, not my problem, i didn’t unlock the gate”. I just asked him if he had the key and he said he did and I think i said something like ‘well there you go’.

I was trying to talk to him still when he started ranting “…. this whole area… shady happenings…” and then suddenly walked off. I called after him but he refused to turn back.

He got most of the way to his car which was PARKED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CUL DE SAC before I thought to yell at him “Why are you so hostile??” That got a reaction, he didn’t stop really but he turned and yelled back that he wasn’t but looked mighty pissed off still.

He then stalked up the street and around the corner and was writing things down on some clipboard (I saw this when he was stopped momentarily at the corner before he went out of sight).

After a few minutes, I got the dogs and started to go back to the house but when I saw him back at his car, I  went over and asked him his name. He told me “Ken” and after I verified that I heard him correctly, I asked for the last name to which he said something to the effect that “you don’t need to know” and then walked away again towards the gate. As I was keep an eye on him as much as possible, I noticed that he was fiddling with the gate so figured he did have the key and was locking it.

I go put the dogs away and caught A who happened to be coming up the stairs and told her what was going on.  So she saw him but at that point he was back at his car doing whatever final things and then drove away. I tried to memorize the plate number and ran inside to write it down afterwards. Thought about grabbing my camera but it was one of those situations where it was all happening too fast and I think the camera’s card wasn’t even in it.

Anyways the whole thing was very disturbing to me because A) what is he doing there at 9pm at night? B) he looked to be off duty plus he specifically said “transit authority by day” and C) all the hostility and nastiness was unnecessary and unprovoked.

All I can think is that I was having such trouble understanding him because lip reading people I don’t know is always a bit of a challenge and he was a more difficult read and the light wasn’t very good. So I kept asking him to repeat himself.

If he was acting “on duty” then I expect him to use proper social/people skills for interacting with the public (me) and not be ranting & raving like a little toady man crazed with his miniscule power (which is exactly how he came off).

I was trying to have a conversation with him because I was going to tell him that the gate has been unlocked for the two years that I’ve lived there and probably for a lot longer than that. I was also going to ask why was he there? And what did he mean by shady business?

But instead I was left feeling shaken and very unsettled cause basically I just had a complete stranger come up to me outside my home at night and treat me like a criminal and flipped out on me and then drove off.

It’s not about the fact that the gate is now locked. Of course it’s government property and if they’re going to lock it, lock it! It won’t keep the homeless out. It won’t keep the critters out. But whatever, I can always use the side yard though now I’ll have to get the key for it.

What it’s about was: Why was he even there in the first place? And official or not, he had no right to behave that way with me.

So now I need to figure out who to contact at the Transit Authority to file a complaint. Also need to warn the neighbors that someone’s got a bee up their ass.

The Gestapo at the Bowl and a power crazy little toad man in my face. And I don’t think it was anywhere near a full moon last night!

There, just wrote email to customerRelations@metro.net to try and find out who I need to talk to about it.

Not sure where the day went but worked on the Sweater Bag for most of the day when I was knitting. Got to the end of the first round of the cable pattern of 35 rows and then realized I’d effed up the center cable… and then the side cable. So lost about 3 hours of knitting carefully ripping down the cable parts and reknitting them back up properly. No way was I frogging the whole rows cause the 50 purl stitches in each one are killing me. My poor thumb hurts!

I’m noticing that there’s a lot of tension in my hands and arms and I feel like I’m fighting still to get the stitches moving along the cable. I’m going to try swapping down again to a shorter length.

But I’m officially throwing in the towel on trying to complete it in time because it just clicked in my brain that the closing time in Beijing means sunday MORNING my time.

Sure enough… 9am for me. That’s 8 hours left! And I’m supposed to be asleep! Time to dig out all the almost finished WIPs and finish them.

Looks like the biggest “start to finish” project I’ll have done is a simple Tudora.

Oh well, the whole thing has been a fun exercise and got me moving into doing more things.

Just feel bad that I didn’t really do any of the fingerless glove projects when my participation in the Ravelympics started out of the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics group on Ravelry.

Oops just remembered the Moon Beads cowl. Such a shame that I didn’t finish that one.

But then again I have to remember that I lost a whole weekend to the camping trip and some of my week nights too (and that new toy, the Ball winder!)

I think I’m going to enjoy not feeling any kind of rush for a deadline. It was always supposed to be something as a fun challenge for myself and it worked because it got me finishing several things and trying something very new to me (the cowl).

BTW I didn’t make it to the Post Office until closing so no complaints registered but I was mollified when the guy from yesterday knocked on my door and handed me the package in question.

I really really love the “Iron Maiden” that Jen did for her limited edition Medival Torture line. I think it’s a real shame that this is one of a kind that will not be repeated because the greys and blacks and red go so well together and in a way that you don’t normally see!

Maybe tomorrow after the closing bell has chimed, I’ll give myself permission to sit down and start charting out the pattern for the original design that Jen’s recent colors inspired in my head (hint: La Belle et Le Bête)

So difficult because there’s so many ideas I want to try out as well as existing patterns I want to do. And there’s my Louhi! Really need to write about that one.

I’ve been trying to keep a diary of my progress and doing ok with it but am way behind with the photos to go with the posts.

Only the first post is posted so far (which explains what Ravelympics is), and I’m reminding myself that there’s plenty of time to take and post the photos but I’ve only got about 24 hrs worth of knitting time left before the final bell sounds (closing ceremony Beijing time).

I’ve got a bunch of projects at the nearly done state, namely bunnies and some older WIPs. Going to focus on either working on the sweater bag or finishing the WIPs. No more casting on for new things unless I finish it all with some hours to go. Then I might do Berroco’s Foliage Bear pattern which looks quick & simple.

Will post again when the diary is completely posted. Will back date them to the appropriate days.

6 hours of knitting so far (broken up a bit with breaks here and there) while watching Battlestar Galactica Season 3.

Started round 1 of the Sweater Bag (first round after the 12 rows of ribbing) and am currently about to start round 17. Definitely not knitting very fast.

Half of the 100 stitches are involved in cable work which isn’t too bad once I get a feel for how the cables are running. Then I don’t have to keep looking it up to see which way to twist the stitches.

However the problem is that the “plain knitting” on what will be the interior of the bag is done in purl. Purl is much slower for me than knitting.

I’m knitting this on Denises and at first I was using too long of a length but even with one that’s 3-4 inches shorter, still feel like I’m struggling to get the yarn around the cable.

A little more than another hundred rows to go. At least the strap should be quick and easy.

In other news, frakkity frak frak!! The Hollywood post office continues to shock me with just how badly organized and committed to their job they are. I’ve never had much trouble with any post office in the past but this one? They’ve lost 4 of my 6 packages mailed on a single day. Disappeared into the ether. They piss and moan and then get nasty with attitude when I try to get them to scan the paper that registers packages as being received by the post office. And they didn’t even know what it was! Hello… this has been around for some time now, do you have no training at this place?

They’ve told us that our bldg is located on an “open route” which means it’s passed along to whoever is free to do it that day. Problem is that some of these carriers are fucking lazy as hell. They won’t check the outgoing mailbox next to the mailboxes. I bought a clip and put it on the box so we could at least clip the mail to the OUTSIDE of the box so they couldn’t miss it. Twice in the past two weeks, I’ve seen mail in the clip in the morning before they’ve come and seen it still there afterwards when the mail had been delivered.

But boy they bitch and bitch about us getting the mailboxes fixed. They’re all fired up about doing THAT right.

Another time I happened to walk out and the carrier had a package too big to put in the box. I saw him trying to use the “call box” which according to the tenant (and former bldg mgr) who has lived here for 18 years… has NEVER BEEN hooked up. I told him “that doesn’t work, it doesn’t go to any of us, you have to go knock on the door”.

I then watched him pull out a form, fill it out, open the boxes back up and drop it in and then get in his truck and drive away. Lazy son of a bitch couldn’t be bothered to go to the door of a 8 unit bldg and knock!

A week or so ago, I had to go to the post office which was also the same day the carrier didn’t pick up the mail. I took it with me and asked to speak to the supervisor and entered a complaint about the shoddy service we get. And of course it happens again this past Wednesday.

And now today, I’m given another reason to go back and register another complaint. I’ve a package that was not delivered last week. Usually the carriers leave it at the door but at least one person who does the route refuses to do so and writes out orange slips instead and sticks it in the door (not the mailbox! which means the wind can blow it away). I know that they don’t leave packages if they think it’s not secure but nothing ever gets taken here and packages are left all the time without a problem. The inconsistency bothers me big time.

Anyways so I get a 2nd orange slip and remember that I can request redelivery. I did it Wednesday night to be delivered today when I would be at home. Carrier gets here and I go out and…. he has no package for me.

Who wasn’t surprised at this? Who actually expected it to be the case? I doubt anyone’s got the time to notice or care that the person requesting the redelivery was the same person who took the time to file a complaint but gee…. awfully coincidental.

Oh well, I’ll go in tomorrow with a print out of the redelivery request (I took a screenshot of the page for proof) and file another complaint and get my gorram package.

Sad really because until this sorry outfit, I’d never had any real problems with the post office and had good feelings about them even with long waits in lines and etc.

Oh, why this rant is in the Ravelympics diary is that it contains the indie dyed yarn from Squibstitcher’s Fresh From the Cauldron line that is intended for an original design of fingerless gloves that I’ve got queued as a Ravelympics Designer Discus project. But at this rate, I don’t even have the design charted yet nor have I seen the yarn in person and figured out if I’ve got the right colors (can’t always be sure that the color as I see it on the screen will match in person – as what happened with the yarn from the Sweater Bag).

Oh well, it was a pie in the sky thing anyways. Maybe I’ll put it as one of my Fantasy Knits instead which I have to finish doing this weekend.

So the other day, I log into Ravelry and find a fun message from a nice lady named Beth.

Hi there, I plopped onto your profile from the Evangeline site. I have to tell you how much I like your Jayne hats. I showed my son – a Firefox/Serenity fan but NOT a knitting fan and you instantly made me look cool. For the first time in 23 years of his life he spontaneously asked me knitting questions like “How can she do that, just look at a picture and make the same thing?” and ”You can’t do that, can you?”

Definitely good for some chuckles and smiles first thing in the morning! I told her to check out what some other people have done, like recreate River’s crocheted vest and something that the engineer girl wears (sorry blanking on the name right now). What I find most impressive is the attempts to recreate Wash’s aran sweater. They’ve scoured screencaps for every little detail they can see which is difficult because he never wears the sweater as is, usually as a layer. They’ve even tracked down the costumer for Firefly and asked her! I did my part by watching ALL the Alien movies in a weekend because someone thought that it was a reused item from one of the movies’ wardrobes. But never saw it because as it turns out, per the wardrobe mistress for Firefly, she commissioned it from someone she knew. The yarn was even bought at a shop here in LA, Santa Monica area I think.

I’ve no need for a Wash sweater but there’s been things I’ve seen in other movies that I want. Post fodder for a later time

I’m feeling withdrawal now and feeling an itch to knit Jaynes again. I finally ordered some replacement needles earlier this week. Decided to try the Bryspun circulars which were under $10, look to be the same kind of plastic/resin like the Denises, and was basically “free shipping”. I’d had Addis recommended to me but they’re metal and my fingers aren’t used to metal anymore. They should be here sometime next week!

Which means I should see about finishing my related project….

Didn’t get that much knitting done. Was so tired and exhausted that I went to bed early. Or rather I fell asleep on the couch and later woke up and moved into bed at 3am. And was too groggy to think about turning lights, ac, and etc off. So much for resolving to stop wasting power and cut down the elec bill a bit.

But I did cast on and get the k2/p2 ribbing done for 12 rows as required for the bottom of the Sweater Bag! I’m excited even though I’m not as thrilled at the color of this yarn as I’d like to be. The rest of my impulse Ebay buys were better than this so all in all I didn’t do badly at all!

I’m still excited about the skein of 100% silk in a beautiful blue color that I want to make in a Tudora for Aunt Ann. I could probably cast on and finish it if I devoted one of the weekend days to it. After all I did the other one in about 5 hours of knitting on the first Saturday from cast on to cast off.

Another thing I’m excited about is that I think I’ve figured out what to do with my stash of Lion Brand Chenille. I’ve got a lot of black and a lot of the multi color “print” colorways which are named for cities. London & Paris which are both very purply & blue and then Amsterdam which has both but leans more towards teal for an deep ocean kind of tone. I knew I wanted to make a blanket with it but was having trouble deciding on a pattern. Was thinking something that would evoke the ocean but hadn’t seen a good pattern or had any inspirational visions of a pattern I could design myself.

But then I was crusing the Afghan event thread in the Ravelympics group and saw people talking about the Cathedral Rose Throw. PERFECT!! I have a lot more Amsterdam than London & Paris but can use the latter two for the smaller accents. Some finished ones: one gal did two, picture of the original FO, a version in browns & reds, and I’m sure you can find more via google as I did.

Really need to come up with a good method for keeping track of what projects that I’ve got planned where I’ve got the yarn and pattern (and needles) ready for casting on. Instead of it all being cattywumpus over my apt and brain and I end up forgetting the plans and wind up wondering what was I going to do with this yarn?

I’m having terrible trouble staying focused on any one project. Tonight I dug out the Wisdom Skye yarn in the Maroon colorway that I scored off Ebay from Your Stash or Mine last month to check it out for the Sweater Bag from Lion Brand Yarns.

This picture made me fall in love with the pattern though the knitter of this bag told me that her yarn didn’t hold up well to use (pilled and turned ratty looking).

Pattern requires bulky yarn and I don’t have much. I’m not sure how the multi-colored part will work out but the yarn is smooth enough that there should still be good enough stitch definition to resist being drowned out by the color changes. Also the yarn is predominately an intense maroon with splashes of other colors.

It wasn’t til I took the photo of the swatch the next day that I realized that one of the other colors was a dk green. There’s a surprising range of color in the yarn so should make for an interesting bag!

Not sure if I’m going to keep it for myself or give it away as a present to someone else. We’ll see.

Oh I also knitted some more on the square for “Dark Doe”.

Played more with the ball winder today as I came across some of my ancient stash of acrylics that were partially used.

Found them while looking for the cotton dishcloth yarn for redoing the Sunflower Hotpad. Did it in 2004 from a booklet but neglected to notice that it called for doubling the yarn.

Couldn’t figure out where I put the booklet but was able to reverse engineer again from the previous FO.

Finished it (yea finished item #2!) but am annoyed because it also doesn’t lay flat. When you fold it in half, it’s not a half circle so I think all along there should have been fewer increasing done. Thinking about trying to aggressively block it to force it to lay “flatter” and call it a day.

Did a lace repeat on Merletto Mitts and started on 3rd skein of yarn for Grrlfriend Bag #2.

Kept wishing that I had a nice long stockinette project to do as I just wanted to knit without much concentration. But didn’t feel like pulling out the Jayne stuff even just to finish the ear flaps on my personal which is one of the WIPs listed for Ravelympics too.

Evangeline would count but I’m bummed about realizing that I’m short of yarn and not able to get more from the place I bought it from. Plus I’m still in the light lace area so some concentration required.

I guess for Day #13 when I get home, if I still want mindless stockinette, I might cast on and do the last of the helmet liners. I also really should get to finishing my Waterlily top and/or cast on for finishing the 2nd of the Perkele mitts.

One bit of good news, a very mangled package finally arrived containing the issue of Interweave Crochet with the Citrine Skirt & Sapphire Skirt patterns that I’ve been wanting to do. I was a little dismayed that the pictures of the latter were SO BLURRY which is appalling for a PRINT MAGAZINE but what upset me more was realizing that the skirt can’t be worn by itself. It’s far too “see through” for it and the model was wearing leggings to match the main blue of the skirt. The same pictures were also online but I thought the blurry grainyness that made it hard to see anything of the skirt aside from the big flower motifs was due to poor image manipulations for the web. The print version was at least bigger and showed enough more detail that I could see the leggings now.

I really like the look of it but clearly will have to reinvent it to a more solid pattern if I get around to making it.

Citrine doesn’t disappoint though and I look forward to trying it out. I think I’ll try the Sailor yarn first and then perhaps the HP 31 Print by Lana Grossa.

Even though I had two pieces of knitting in the car, I didn’t do any knitting at all on the camping trip. Never got any true “recreation” time but that’s another story and it was still a good trip.

Though I was exhausted when we got back between 7 & 8pm Monday night, I got the trailer parked, unhitched and dragged the bulk of the stuff into my house before collapsing on the couch.

Feeling frustrated at being 11 days into 17 days of Ravelympics, I dug out the Candy Cane #2 scarf and added the last 12 pieces of fringe in white Microspun which I’d found and wound neatly into a cake the previous week.

Finally an FO to cross the finish line with!

And here’s my “medal” for finishing!

Worked some on the Merletto Mitts and got out of the ribbing and into the lace pattern.

Also finished knitting out the Grrlfriend bag out to the end of the 2nd skein of yarn. Debating about whether to finish off here or keep going for a third one to make it bigger. Bag feels heavy already though.

Thinking that Adara is too heavy for this bag pattern, perhaps a crocheted one instead that uses chains for mesh?

Focused on plowing through the Icy Moon cowl as you must crochet the body first before any of the beaded edging.

Didn’t really work on anything else because I was also trying to get preparations done for the camping trip to Pinnacles.

Bound off on the body late Thursday night and set it aside.

I also worked on the new Grrlfriend bag and got it into the 2nd skein of yarn.